"Ultimately, we were able to out-run the other cars that were on that [one-stop] strategy," he agreed, "I believe I led briefly, for one lap, before my stop and, then, obviously, [there was] a long stint on the option tyre.

"The tyre was graining, which I guess was the same for everyone, [and] the track was breaking up. Thankfully, I had a big enough gap to Rubens [Barrichello], who was holding up the pack, and then to Timo Glock. He didn't make it too difficult at the end. But it is a hot race and you have to really concentrate, even when you are driving slowly, trying to protect the brakes because, if you go one inch off the line, then you are on that gravel and it just sucks you in.

"There was a lot of graining - I was actually surprised that we had quite a bit of graining on the prime, which we hadn't seen in practice, and, in the first stint, I was tearing that tyre quite a bit. I was hoping that, as the track rubbered in, it might make it a bit easier on the option. I knew I was on a one stop, so I knew I was committed to going long. Obviously, the safety car helped because we saved some fuel, went a fuel laps longer, and that meant less laps and less fuel on the option tyre but, nonetheless, it is tricky to drive with a tearing tyre on a track that's breaking up.

"The track conditions weren't as bad as we saw in qualifying, or it certainly didn't break up as quickly, but certainly, by the end of the race, there was a lot of debris off-line. I was actually taking the hairpin with one wheel on the grass, which is definitely not the quickest way in normal conditions. But, with the gravel the way it was, if you went wider, it just sucked you in.

"So [it was] very difficult and I am delighted [to be here] as I would never have expected to get a podium this weekend. I have had a horrible start to the year and all my guys, the team and everyone back at the factory, have had a lot of repairs because of all the various incidents, so I am delighted for them. I'm just delighted to have a good point-scoring finish after the first few races of the year. It was beginning to look like I was a crasher. In Monaco, I managed to do that pretty much myself but all the other ones, I seem to have been assisted by other cars, so it's nice to bring the car home in a difficult race. It is a real credit to Red Bull and the efforts they are putting in."